Wildlife crime and local communities

IIED believes that efforts to tackle wildlife crime are only going to be effective in the long term if they involve the local people who live alongside wildlife.

Wildlife crime is at the top of the international conservation agenda. Poaching and associated illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is devastating populations of iconic wildlife species such as rhinos and elephants, as well as a host of lesser known ones such as pangolins, some birds, reptiles, primates, medicinal plants and timber species.

Wildlife trade is big business and there has always been an illegal element to it, but it has gained unprecedented high-level international attention over the last few years as a result of a huge increase in poaching of African elephants and rhinos, and concerns for the longer term survival of these and other already threatened species.

Wildlife crime is also of concern outside of the conservation community. Wildlife can be a key asset for rural communities in Africa and elsewhere, providing a foundation for investment and economic development – for example through tourism or timber trade. Depletion of this asset can undermine this foundation – limiting options for local and national sustainable development.

It is critical therefore that wildlife crime is tackled as a priority issue for both the conservation and development community. However, the way in which wildlife crime is tackled can also have implications for the local communities who live alongside wildlife.

It is well recognised that there is no simple solution to tackling wildlife crime. The different initiatives that have emerged have adopted multiple approaches. These can broadly be classified into three types:

Increase law enforcement and strengthen criminal justice systems

Reduce demand/consumption, and

Support sustainable livelihoods and local economic development.

To date, most attention has been paid to the first two approaches, with relatively limited attention to the third strategy. Working closely with the IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi) and other partners, we are determined to address that imbalance. Some of our approaches are:

Building the evidence base for the effectiveness of community-led approaches: we have established an online learning platform to bring case studies and other resources together in one place

Building conservation authority capacity for community engagement: in Uganda local communities living around the national parks can be key allies to the Uganda Wildlife Authority in its efforts to tackle wildlife crime. We are building UWA capacity to implement a community-based IWT action plan, including working with volunteer wildlife scouts, intelligence gathering and supporting income generating activities.